Bankers Group Changes Stance On Acquisitions

December 19, 1986|By William Gruber.

Directors of the Illinois Bankers Association have softened their previously adamant opposition to amending the state`s regional interstate banking law to include a trigger date for opening Illinois to nationwide bank acquisitions, officials said Thursday.

``Our feeling still remains that we believe the regional banking system should have time to develop,`` said Charles Waterman, IBA president. ``But we`re willing to carry on a dialogue on the issue.``

However, the IBA`s directors, at a meeting Wednesday in Springfield, also said they opposed proposals by incoming state Treasurer Jerry Consentino to force banks to reduce their charges for credit-card balances and other revolving loan plans.

``We don`t think usury ceilings in Illinois would be in the best interests of anyone, bankers or consumers,`` he said.

In addition, the directors voted to go ahead with plans for the IBA to offer liability insurance to officers and directors of banks in the state through a captive insurance company.

Waterman and William Hocter, IBA executive vice president, said the directors agreed to adopt a somewhat more open attitude to the issue of eventually allowing banking companies anywhere in the U.S. to buy banks in Illinois, and vice versa.

``We`re a little off from the firm position we had in the past opposing any talk of a trigger,`` Waterman said. ``In a recent poll of our members, 86 percent of those responding felt full interstate banking was inevitable, although they didn`t say when.``

The IBA officials also noted that Gov. James Thompson and Democratic and Republican leaders in the legislature also support the idea of eventually opening the state to full nationwide banking.

The trigger question is expected to be a hot issue when the legislature convenes early next year. Some bankers expect the legislature, after heated debate, to adopt a measure similar to that of Michigan, which will permit nationwide banking in that state starting in 1989.

Until a few years ago, the IBA opposed any suggestion that Illinois banks should be permitted to operate more than one full-service office. It has been evolving rapidly from that stance. In the early 1980s, it supported bills that permitted banks to open additional offices in the state.